Its History. The story of compensation in England is peculiarly instructive. In 1888 Mr. Ritchie, in his Bill establishing County Councils, proposed to vest in them the power to license, but provided that compensation should be paid for licences not renewed through no fault of the holder. So great was the opposition to this proposal that the clauses were altogether withdrawn from the bill. In 1890 Mr. Goschen provided £440,000 a year in his budget with which he proposed that county councils might buy up licences in order to extinguish them, and he also proposed that no new ones should be Issued without their sanction. Mr. Caine resigned his seat as a protest, and the agitation aroused was so vehement that the scheme was abandoned and the money devoted instead to technical education. In 1891 the battle was transferred to the law courts. The Kendal magistrates refused to renew the licence of one Susanna Sharpe, land lady of an inn at Kentmere, on the ground that it was not wanted in that place. The decision was appealed against, on the plea that the magistrates were not entitled to decline to renew a licence unless for some offence of the holder. The case, entitled Sharpe v. Wakefield, was fought up to the House of Lords, but the Licensed Victuallers got absolutely not a shred of victory. Every court decided, and decided unanimously, that there is no vested interest in a licence, and that the magistrates have complete power to decline to renew, if in their opinion the licence is no longer required in the locality. This principle is extensively acted upon. According to a House of Commons return, quoted by Sir William Harcourt,* between the years 1890 and 1893 no less than 189 renewals were refused by the magistrates for no other reason than that they were not wanted. History, then, shows that the path of the compensators is thorny; the authority of the law declares that compensation is uncalled for. If, after repeated warnings extending over years, after unquestionable decisions of the law courts, and unchallenged practice of the magistrates, publicans and brewery directors are still fools enough to regard the renewal of an annual licence as a right, and to invest money on this rotten security, that is no reason why the community should make good their folly, or use public funds to protect the dividends of brewery shareholders. Property which the law and our forefathers have sanctioned should not be lightly confiscated. But it is another matter to give value for rights which the law both in theory and practice declares to be non-existent. Compromise. Nevertheless, I suggest that we might go so far to as give a five years notice. Let the Act come into effective operation five years after the date of its passage. Further, out of the profits of high licences and municipal trading, let us authorize compassionate allowances to all persons who can prove that they have been brought to the workhouse door through the operation of the Act. The venerable village innkeeper, the hoary-headed publican, Speech on introduction of the Local Veto Bill. if any such there be, whose living is taken away from him, should receive enough to let him end his days in honorable retirement. The bar-tender who is unemployed, the barmaid who is thrown on an over-stocked labor market, should be entitled to assistance and out-of-work benefit. Lastly, the widow or the orphan, or the elderly spinster whose little all has been invested in a public house should not be driven to despair and suicide. All such cases should be met fairly, and even liberally. But I would refuse one penny of compensation to brewery companies owning tied houses, to landlords who have already fattened on a law-created monopoly, to mortgagees, to jolly publicans in the prime of life, and to all and sundry who are quite well able to take care of themselves, and for whom a five years' warning is the very utmost that can be demanded.* This, then, is the law. That it needs reform is generally admitted. The question at issue is the method to be chosen. The teetotal party has long advocated Local Veto. Fabian Tract No. 86 explains why this proposal must be unhesitatingly condemned, and what alternatives can be adopted. This was the opinion of the writer. For the view of the subject adopted by the Society, see Fabian Tract No. 86, "Municipal Drink Traffic." LIST OF BOOKS. The following are some of the best books on the Licensing Question: The Temperance Problem and Social Reform. By J. ROWNTREE and A. SHERHodder; ninth edition. 6s. This is by far the fullest compendium of information on the problem. WELL. 1901. Other volumes by the same writers are: British Gothenburg Experiments and Public House Trusts. Hodder; second edn., 2s. 6d. Public Control of the Liquor Traffic. IOS. 6d. net. 1903. 2s. 6d. net. Vol. I., Public Houses. Macmillan ; 1906. The Case for Municipal Drink Trade. By E. R. PEASE. King; 1904. Is. net. The History of Liquor Licensing in England, principally from 1700 to 1830. By SIDNEY and BEATRICE WEBB. Longmans; 1903. 2s. 6d. net. Drink, Temperance ana Legislation. By ARTHUR SHADWELL, M.A., M.D. Longmans; 1902. 2s. 6d. net. A valuable criticism of current opinions. Alcoholism: A Study in Heredity. By G. ARCHDALL REID. Unwin; 1901. 6s. net. The Licensed Trade: An Independent Survey. By A. E. PRATT. Murray; 1907. 5s. net. Socialism ana the Drink Question. By PHILIP SNOWDEN, M.P. I. L. P.; 1908. Is. 6d. net. Final Report of the Royal Commission on the Operation and Administration of the Laws relating to the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors. C-9379. 1899. 3s. 6d. Secretary, at the Fabian Office, 3 Clement's Inn, London, W.C. Is. net. THIS MISERY OF BOOTS. By H. G. WELLS. Paper cover, design Tracts, each 16 to 52 pp., price 1d., or 9d. per dos., unless otherwise stated. Leaflets, 4 pp. each, price 1d. for six copies, 1s. per 100, or 8,6 per 1000. The Set of 78, 3s.; post free 3/5. Bound in Buckram, 4/6; post free for 5s. I.-General Socialism in its various aspects. TRACTS.-138. Municipal Trading. 121. Public Service versus Private Expenditure. By Sir OLIVER LODGE. 113. Communism. By WM. MORRIS. 107. Socialism for Millionaires. By BERNARD SHAW. 133. Socialism and Christianity. By Rev. PERCY DEARMER. 78. Socialism and the Teaching of Christ. By Dr. JOHN CLIFFORD. 87. The same in Welsh. 42. Christian Socialism. By Rev. S. D. HEADLAM. 79. A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich. By JOHN WOOLMAN. 75. Labor in the Longest Reign. By SIDNEY WEBB. 72. The Moral Aspects of Socialism. By SIDNEY BALL. 69. Difficulties of Individualism. By SIDNEY WEBB. 51. Socialism: True and False. By S. WEBB. 45. The Impossibilities of Anarchism. By BERNARD SHAW (price 2d.). 15. English Progress towards Social Democracy. By S. WEBB. 7. Capital and Land (7th edn. revised 1908). 5. Facts for Socialists (10th edn., revised 1906). LEAFLETS-13. What Socialism Is. 1. Why are the Many Poor? 38. The same in Welsh. II.-Applications of Socialism to Particular Problems. TRACTS.-136. The Village and the Landlord. By EDWARD Carpenter. 135. Paupers and Old Age Pensions. By SIDNEY WEBB. 131. The Decline in the Birth-Rate. By SIDNEY WEBB. 130. Home Work and Sweating. By Miss B. L. HUTCHINS. 128. The Case for a Legal Minimum Wage. 126. The Abolition of Poor Law Guardians. 122. Municipal Milk and Public Health. By Dr. F. LAWSON DODD. 120. "After Bread, Education." 125. Municipalization by Provinces. 119. Public Control of Electrical Power and Transit. 123. The Revival of Agriculture. 118. The Secret of Rural Depopulation. 115. State Aid to Agriculture: an Example. 112. Life in the Laundry. 98. State Railways for Ireland. 124. State Control of Trusts. 86. Municipal Drink Traffic. 85. Liquor Licensing at Home and Abroad. 84. Economics of Direct Employment. 83. State Arbitration and the Living Wage. 48. Eight Hours by Law. 23. Case for an Eight Hours Bill. 47. The Unemployed. By JOHN BURNS, M.P. LEAFLET.-104. How Trade Unions benefit Workmen. III.-Local Government Powers: How to use them. TRACTS.-137. Parish Councils and Village Life. 117. The London Education Act, 1903: how to make the best of it. 109. Cottage Plans and Common Sense. By RAYMOND UNWIN. 76. Houses for the People. 99. Local Government in Ireland. 82. Workmen's Compensation Act. New edition for the Act of 1906. 62. Parish and District Councils. 54. The Humanizing of the Poor Law. By J. F. OAKESHOTT. LEAFLETS. 68. The Tenant's Sanitary Catechism. 71. Same for London. 134. Small Holdings, Allotments and Common Pastures: and how to get them. FABIAN MUNICIPAL PROGRAM, FIRST SERIES (Nos. 32, 37). Municipalization of the Gas Supply. A Labor Policy for Public Authorities. SECOND SERIES (Nos. 90 to 97). Municipalization of Milk Supply. Municipal Pawnshops. Municipal Slaughterhouses. Women as Councillors. Municipal Bakeries. Municipal Hospitals. Municipal Steamboats.- Second Series in a red cover for 1d. (9d. per doz.); separate leaflets, 1/- per 100. IV. Books. 132. A Guide to Books for Socialists. 29. What to Read on social and economic subjects. 6d. net. 129. More Books to Read. Supplement to October, 1906. V.-General Politics and Fabian Policy. 127. Socialism and Labor Policy. 116. Fabianism and the Fiscal Question: an alternative policy. 108. Twentieth Century Politics. By SIDNEY WEBB. 70. Report on Fabian Policy. 41. The Fabian Society: its Early History. By BERNARD SHAW. VI.-Question Leaflets. Questions for Candidates: 20, Poor Law Guardians. 28, County Councils, Rural. 102, Metropolitan Borough Councils. BOOK BOXES lent to Societies, Clubs, Trade Unions, for 10s. a year. Printed by G. Standring, 7 Finsbury St., London, E.C., and published by the Fabian Society, 3 Clement's Inn. Strand, London W C. MUNICIPAL DRINK TRAFFIC WITH A CRITICISM OF LOCAL VETO THE FABIAN SOCIETY, 3 CLEMENT'S INN, STRAND, W.C PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 1898. FIFTH EDITION DECEMBER 1907. MUNICIPAL DRINK FEW can be found to deny that the drinking customs and licensing laws of England need drastic reform. With the teetotal movement, so far as its methods are personal and moral, we have no quarrel and no present concern. Our subject is the political aspect of the drink question and the amendment of the law of licensing. Neither of the great political parties has reason to be proud of its experiments in legislation for the regulation of the drink traffic. The Conservatives proposed a scheme of reduction of licences with compensation, which was swept out of existence by a storm of public anger; and now they venture on nothing more serious than a Royal Commission, destined to produce the same results as most other Royal Commissions. As for the Liberals, Sir William Harcourt, in preparing his ill-advised and badly planned measure, blindly followed the lead of the militant teetotal party, and ignored the views of his late chief, who, with his usual wisdom, had but a poor opinion of mere limitation by reducing the number of licences," and favored the Gothenburg system, or, as an alternative, "free trade with .. adequate taxation." The Local Veto Bill. The Government Bill of 1895 was crude local veto, a plan workable perhaps in the Australian bush, but quite unsuited to Lancashire and London. It gave a majority of two-thirds of the voters the power of veto, and a bare majority power to reduce by one-fourth the number of licences issued. The area selected was the smallest possible, namely, the ward of any parish or borough where wards existed. Sir William seems to have read parts of Mr. Fanshaw's American Report, and a tract or two on the Gothenburg system, and with this mental equipment he set up as the leader of the Liberal Party on its new teetotal crusade. The House of Commons did not reject the bill, and the country in consequence rejected the House of Commons. Prohibition a Failure. The fatal objection to any scheme permitting the prohibition of the sale of liquor is that wherever it has been tried it has proved a failure, unless the prohibitive district contains only a thin rural population. In such districts, and in a few exceptional places, it may occasionally be enforced; but it has never succeeded in any large town other than a place such as Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is practically a suburb of Boston. Attempts to enforce prohibition result in immediate reaction and repeal of the law, as in ⚫ Letter from Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone to Mr. Snape, quoted in Pall Mall Gazette, 4th October, 1895. |